1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric junction box and more particularly to an electric junction box including a terminal holder configured to provide support to a bus bar terminal of the electric junction box.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art, such as Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 2001-25137, discloses an electric junction box used for distributing electric power from a vehicle power source to various electrical components. In the electric junction box of the prior art, the electric junction box has control elements and switching elements mounted on one surface of a circuit board and a circuit component mounted on the other surface of the circuit board within a water-proof case. The bus bar is adhered to the circuit component through an insulating layer. The bus bar board is electrically connected to the switching elements forming an electrical circuit.
Some prior art electric junction boxes include a case having a hood shaped connector that accommodates a bus bar terminal inside. In the aforementioned prior art electric junction boxes, the bus bar terminal is provided at an end of the bus bar. Further, an opposite connector is received into the connector and provided on an end of an electric wire connected to a power source, an alternator or similar device. An opposite terminal received by the opposite connector is configured to be electrically connected to an end of the bus bar terminal.
In cases where the height of a bus bar board differs from the height of a connector, or the bus bar terminal extends in a direction from the bus bar board that differs from a receiving direction of the bus bar terminal to an opposite connector; the bus bar terminal is required to be cranked or folded by bending in order to be received by the connector. When the bus bar terminal is repeatedly received by and removed from the opposite connector an end of the bus bar terminal is pulled due to frictional engagement with the opposite connector. As a result, a bending portion of the bus bar terminal may be deformed near its end.
The bus bar terminal can be prevented from being pulled down and deformed by fixing a locking piece to the bus bar terminal. In the aforementioned configuration the locking piece is configured to elastically fix the bus bar terminal from an inner peripheral surface of the connector.
The construction of the prior art described above, however, has the disadvantage of requiring the additional labor of configuring the locking piece to engage the bus bar terminal in an assembling process and also complicates the housing structure, resulting in increased costs.